Less Preaching, More Teaching (Warriors 98, Bucks 120)

I have no problem with the outcome of the Warriors’ 98-120 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. But the way the Warriors lost it — particularly after two hard-fought games post-Ellis trade — leaves a lot to be desired. The lack of healthy talent on the current Warriors roster is not an excuse for lack of effort. It may be difficult to keep the team focused for the remainder of these meaningless games, but it needs to be Mark Jackson’s primary concern so that the players that constitute this team’s future don’t just repeat its past.

Friday’s blowout was two problems layered on top of one another. One problem is excusable, the other one is not.

First, the Warriors are painfully small and soft up front. Against a rugged team like the Bucks, the Warriors needed something from Biedrins. They got almost nothing. That forced Jackson to give Lee extended minutes at center, which allowed Drew Gooden to waltz repeatedly to the rim. When Jackson looked down the bench for a defensive replacement for Lee his best option was … Dominic McGuire? Sad, but not entirely crazy. Jeremy Tyler has a bigger body, but is still learning to tie his shoelaces, let alone defend crafty post scorers like Gooden. So, to borrow a phrase from the man of the hours, Monta Ellis: the Warriors lack of size “it is what it is.” Unfortunately, the ripples from that lack of size disturb the entire team’s game. The smaller players come down to help with rebounds and defense in the post. That leaves shooters open on the perimeter. And when Mike Dunleavy repeatedly remains open, he can work out a few years of frustration on the Warriors in a matter of minutes. Again, not pretty, but given the pieces remaining in play here, it’s not shocking.

But the second problem — which remains far more in the coach’s and players’ control — was the lack of aggressiveness from the players logging major minutes. The Warriors blew out the Kings and hung with the Celtics because they attacked the basket. Whether on ball movement or penetration, they made the extra plays or the extra effort to get good shots. Against the Bucks, the Warriors seemed content to resort to their jump-shooting ways. Dorell Wright and Brandon Rush shot 14 of their 22 field goals from behind the arc. Klay Thompson wasn’t quite as bad — at least attempting to penetrate on occasion — but also settled for far too many jumpers during a stretch when he was cold from the field. David Lee was aggressive on the offensive end, taking it inside against Gooden, but then completely passive on defense, allowing Gooden to do the same to him. The Bucks owned the Warriors on the glass, with no one on the team putting up much of a fight. The Warriors probably would have lost this game 4 times out of 5 even with top effort, but the scoreboard reflects the near complete absence of it from the core of Jackson’s rotation.

Advertisement

The question for Mark Jackson is what to do about it. He can blast his team for an embarrassing performance — as he did after the game — but when you’re dealing with vets who know the reality of the Warriors’ changes, those types of tactics will only go so far. Telling David Lee, Dorell Wright and Andris Biedrins that the Warriors still need to compete for a playoff spot may be good rah-rah enthusiasm, but I doubt it’ll elicit more than a chuckle, let alone a change in behavior. Jackson’s other option is to start handing out minutes to guys based on effort and attempted execution. He can let them play through their mistakes and mismatches so long as they’re making concerted efforts to do the things he asks of them — like attack the basket and hustle on defense. If that means that Charles Jenkins has some possessions when he struggles to get the ball across half-court, so be it. It’s not like the team gains much by having him get it a few feet further and pass to Dorell Wright or Brandon Rush for a clanked jumper. Likewise, if you put Jeremy Tyler in for some real minutes against Drew Gooden and he ends up picking up a bunch of quick fouls in an attempt to be physical, so be it. I’d rather have Gooden score his points from the line than seeing him waltz past David Lee to the basket.

I can’t fault the veterans on this team for dialing down their intensity following the Ellis trade. They want to be a winning, relevant team — and for now they simply don’t have the bodies to accomplish that goal. Rather than attempting to reverse those vet’s sagging motivation, Jackson may be better served finding the players on his team that have something to prove. The young players like Thompson, Jenkins, Tyler and Chris Wright should be given longer runs to work out their mistakes (Thompson already got his earlier in the season, to great effect). The fringe players looking for future deals like McGuire, Rush and Robinson should get minutes as well so long as their intensity level remains high and their execution remains precise. If they get sloppy or start to freelance, they shouldn’t get a pass just because they’re more talented than the alternatives. If anything, minutes for these vets should be viewed as stabilizing tools for the younger players — they’re mixed into the rotation so it’s not just the blind leading the blind.

This week the Warriors finally made a far-sighted move at the trade deadline. These post-deadline games need to be treated with the same appreciation for the team’s long-term interest over short-term gratification. Mark Jackson needs to maintain a focused environment in which the Warriors’ still-developing pieces can be given meaningful opportunities to learn how to play the game. There wasn’t much teaching going on Friday. Jackson’s veteran-heavy line-up simply got schooled.

Adam Lauridsen

Post navigation

It’s really sad that our fans are cheering every time Monta gets his hand on the ball.

WTF is wrong with these fans at the game?

If he makes a shot or do something spectacular, cheer for him.

This game feels like we wanted to let Monta win no matter what.
The team feels it like the fans are not behind their backs.

This is beyond stupid.

I love how KT did a little push to Monta and ran behind Lee and his man, Monta then got confused and caught by Lee and his man, KT curled to the corner and calmly nailed a 3.

That sequence nailed what we had seen over the years.
Love it.

bryhsiao

KT for the first 5 mins was pretty impressive.
Took Monta to the basket easily and just missed an easy layup and a sec followup.
Set up AB for a easy bank underneath the basket.

AB played a not bad first 6 mins and defended Gooden chest to chest most of the time. Gooden shot the ball well but AB did not let him get easy baskets.

Then AB got subbed out by Mcquire. And Mcquire got assigned to guard Monta when KT was doing just fine there?

Weird.

El Topo

B Wright
C Wright
D Wright

We need Antoine Wright and Julian Wright to be a Wright team.

El Topo

When we complain about Riley, let’s remember he’s not the worst.

Riley > Billy King (Nets in a world of trouble…no Howard and DWill leaving)

bryhsiao

DW is pathetic in his defense that he stayed too low on Monta and he could not even move with Monta in the corner.
KT helped and covered perfectly on Monta in the air where Monta did this 360degree spin in the air going nowhere.

I think KT got the short end on the stick there. Monta had nowhere to go.
KT was frustrated too and I feel him.

This game feels like Monta’s farewell party that everyone has to pay for his last dinner here.

I cannot wait to see DW gets replaced by RJefferson who can defend and can do something with the ball in his hand.
DW imo just dribbles around and wastes some clock and see if he can throw some wild passes to woo the crowd or just got stuck and tried to pass out.

Give me a SF who can do something with the ball pls.
KT at least can prop the defense with his live dribble. KT looks more like a starter than DW ever has.

gary

I Yi @ 50

Not a bad choice. He might be ready. My thinking is JL wants a proven commodity @ HC. Both Mac & D’ are / were western conference HCs.

I yi yiyi yi

This game feels like Monta’s farewell party that everyone has to pay for his last dinner here.

Bry, Exactly

but remember the future and the present might be a little easier to take (tank)

holzman

bry, what is so hard to understand re the fans cheering monta when he touches the ball in his first game back after being traded? it’s a way to say thanks for the memories.

monsta

Chronicle published a game review with an ouch stat:

Drew Gooden outproduced Biedrins 16-2 in points and 11-1 in rebounds.

The scary part of that? My reaction. I honestly thought, Hey Biedrins got a board! Great! AND a bucket? Oh yeah I remember that one, that was so good for Andris!

deano

petaluman @ 48: It’s nice to see you back on the board, especially since I agree with you that the team’s poor performance last night was a departure from its recent norm of effort and movement.

Adam: You rightly point out that when faced with weak effort on the part of his players, MJack can either blast them or sit them (or both, really). However, what does MJack do when no one battles, which is what happened last night? All he can do then is rip the whole team. I am glad to hear from you that he did so.

I am anxious to see Richard Jefferson in a Warriors uniform. I have always thought that he would play well here. Now we’ll see. GSW could use an upgrade at SF, given DWright’s inexplicable fall-off from last season. RJ and GSW will benefit next season from the acclimation with Klay and Lee that he will get the rest of this season.

JT

Awwwwww. It’s so sad. This is like CC’s last stand! He’s supposedly done Monday, so he’s trying his damnedest to stay relevant. You can always tell when something is going well because the trolls start grasping for more attention. Get more boisterous. Ie Meir when Curry has a good game. CC when the Warriors make good moves. You won’t be missed CC. You’re just a tool, with a pathetic little life.

RickP

Where are the 10 day contracts?

It’s hard for me to believe that Tyler and Jenkins are better than anybody in the deveopmental league. Similar argument for Biedrins, except that he used to be an NBA quality player.

I’m expecting the rest of the season to be hard to watch. Not a single big man who can defend. No backup PG. Bad news.

And, for next season, they still need a third PG and backups at 4 and 5.

And, we’d better hope that Bogut returns to form and stays healthy, because, if he doesn’t, the W’s will have no ability to make personnel moves for several years.

bryhsiao

KT is really a smart player like Curry.
KT’s dribbling and penetrating skills are underrated imo.
He just needs to stay calm once he gets to the rim and focus on the finish with contacts.
He brought us back in the game in the sec half.

There was this play that Luc Mbah a Moute was inside and Lee/Nate/DW were there. Moute got his hand on the ball 2 times around those 3 and then dived on the ground with those 3 around him and still got the jump ball. lol

bryhsiao

holzman

I have no problem for Fans showing appreciation for Monta when he does something good or makes his basket.

Not whenever he touches the ball.
Cheering him in every made shot when he plays for our opponent is already enough. Remember we were down by 20points+?

I felt happy that we won’t have to see him again this season and I felt the team feels the same way.

Tired

25 games to go. We need to lose most of them. Who is going to take charge of this tank? Portland now in the race.

We can do it. But will we? All we have to do is play like last night. That was actually pretty well done.

…scotch

Good stuff Adam…

Only thing I can add is where was the cohesive, ball sharing, uptempo team that scored 110 points in the paint the two post trade games? That’s what I was hoping to see more of????!!!!

Side note: Anyone hear Jim Barnett’s comments about AR? “They should have kept him” & “Nellie treated him badly”. Of course Fitz jumped in with “I like Lee better”… to which Barnett said yeah but wasn’t he a free agent (So why trade AR?)

holzman

Well, bry, fan is short for fanatic, so I can understand fanatical love for the team’s leading scorer upon his first game back.
btw, how do you feel about fans booing Dunleavy everytime he touched the ball? (even when they did that right after the team let him go, i though that showed no class).

http://joelacobsucks.blogspot.com/ Chris Cohan

“Our Team” just confirmed that Curry will be shut down for the remainder of the season.

Very informative, I didn’t know someone with a broken ankle would be out of shape?

RE Curry being “maxed”…I doubt even Steph’s Mom thinks he is a max player?

BTW your concern about Lacob “…mortgag(ing) the future recklessly”, I think with the assets they had available what else could he do? I’m all in…

You play GM or King…give it up…what would you do?

…scotch

…or would you have” done?

Tired

CC, you are just a shadow of your former self.

So sad.

Ws have made something good out of an untenable situation. Short attention span, instant gratification types don’t get it.

Sorry you have slipped so far….

http://joelacobsucks.blogspot.com/ Chris Cohan

Bucks folks say Bogut will never be same.
Please, enlighten me on the positive value of spending $10 million IN ACTUAL salary space on a 27th pick.

http://1 jsl

Terrible game. But nice write-up, Adam. My two cents:

1. Isn’t it time to shut AB down; just be rid of him? He’s totallyt uninterested, lacks cojones, has quit defending, and is — as a result — totally useless.

Why play him at all? What’s Jax’s “excuse?”

2. Dorell — aside from those few moments a game where he hits a couple of open threes in a row — is also, as R.D. Laing might say, a “Useless Eustace.” He strikes fear in Warrior fans every time he tries to dribble or pass. He’s gone from a mediocre defender to a simply horrible one, refusing to close out on long shots by hot shooters (and, Hello, MikeD!), incapable of sustaining energy.

3. With Curry being shut down now, it’s imperative we find out about our youth — and, maybe, whether Jefferson can be a useful fit (a la a Bruce Bowen: corner threes, but really good D). That means MUCH more time for Jenkins and Tyler, at least.

I get it that Jenkins is still learning PG ball-handling, and that pressure can disrupt him. Two points: Can’t Jax TEACH him; and why not let this bright guy play thru mistakes and learn to get it right by season’s end? The quick hook does nothing but undermine confidence here. Play this kid in a reguklar rotation at least 20 minutes a game.

With Tyler, you might need a shorter leash, to teach him things on the spot when he gets abused down low. But, again, teaching’s the key here.

4. Time for Jax to start showing he’s head coaching material. So far, he’s been very much a disappointment. We’ve covered a lot of his failings, but the key — to me — is whether this bright, relatively articulate, and talented guy can impart knowledge to young players, especially his PGs. So far we’ve seen little evidence of this.

Let’s hope he’s actually got something in the tank.

JT

Why don’t YOU enlighten us with who the Warriors would have signed with that money? LeBron James. Cuz we know all the big names want to come here. You’ve said so yourself. Since when are you so concerned with the money spent? Is it your money. For the longest time all you did was complain that the FO wouldn’t spend any money and was screwing the fans. NOW you’re complaining because the FO is spending TOO MUCH money? You’re a sad little troll, and no one takes you seriously.

Why don’t you provide some links or some sources for your claims regarding Curry’s max contract (though it’s not even an issue for over another season) or Bucks “people” saying Bogut will never be the same?

You can’t. Because you’re a fcuking loser. Now stop wasting our time.

http://1 jsl

CC @75: Two quick answers:

1. No Cancer Jack — and that’s probably worth the $10MM right there. Tho talented, this joker is mindlessly self-important, and always moves his team inexorably in the wrong direction — Indiana, here, Charlotte, and Milwaukee. He’s precisely the type of “me first” guy who’s anathema to any team concepts.

We rid ourselves of a plague when we shed him.

2. Let’s see either how we parlay the Spurs pick, or use it. Since we took on cap obligations this week, it’s important that we find some young and bench talent that’s cheap — for the time being, anyway.

Now, tell us, is there anything behind your apparent — if inexplicable — distaste for Bogut other than that he isn’t now in playing shape and it cost Monta to get him?

Next, do you still see ANY talent in our old friend AB? If so, please share your thots.

http://joelacobsucks.blogspot.com/ Chris Cohan

Pathetic.
This is done.

I win again.

inside9

Second round 2008 pick Mbah a Moute was pretty impressive. Once again highlighting our drafting ineptitude (We took Anthony Randolph at 14). A strong solid player in last night’s game and a prince to boot. I was waiting for Fitz to bring up the Eddie Murphy shtick from “Trading Places” for the Prince from Camaroon. He had wowed Brooks with it earlier in the day. Easy to confuse with “Coming to America” as Brooks had pointed out.

Clyde Frazier

Sounds like the same story from last week, and the week before and the week before. Middle was so open a bus could drive through, no D, no boxout, wonder they didn’t lose by 50 points. At least we’re one step closer to getting that draft pick.

Hope to see the bench players play more, they need game time experience.
So what if they lose by 50.

…scotch

“I win again”

Thought you were better than that cc…you’re sounding/acting like “TruthPunk” where all your declarations are unequivically fact & you’re having a conversation with yourself?.

I’m shocked that a couple Buck fans are rationalizing about the trade!

The 27 year old bogut wil never be the same…risk & f’ing reward…bring it on!

SurfCity (aka TheCity)

cc@45 “Lacob has gone Full Cohan”

Huh? Cohan sold off or traded off stars to save money. Say what you will about the recent moves, but they were not that.

http://Yahoo! PeteyBrian

CC
Warriors in full tank mode.

When Warrior’s lose, they win.

Like in Star Wars, Jerry West is Yoda.

West is on record saying he wants a 2012 lottery pick.

Want a link? Do your own homework.

Chris Mullins’ Ghost

More than any other game this year, it looked like David Lee was playing defense by standing on the other side of the court, taking mental notes.

OTOH, maybe he’s getting behind this Top 7 pick deal. That would be a good thing.

Chris Mullins’ Ghost

All these years, I’ve hated it when Fitz goes “and Andris Biedrins gets ANOTHER rebound!!!”, as if A.B. were vacuuming them in at an unbelievable rate. Now I understand. He’s legitimately amazed that A.B. got a second board.

http://Yahoo! PeteyBrian

Shutting down Curry/Bogut is kind of like the San Antonio Spurs.

Tanked not once, but twice for consensus #1 picks in Robinson and Duncan. No analysis needed.

Now everyone there is a genius and Pops a legend.

http://Yahoo! PeteyBrian

Warrior’s coaches need to earn their paychecks and “coach” Andris Biedrins for once.

If not inspire him, then play Andris for 40 minutes a game.

Either Andris gets it together or Warriors select top 7 in loaded draft.